Relay technology has been adopted in various mobile networks in an effort to extend cell coverage and enhance system capacity. For example, such relay technology has been adopted in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) Release 10 systems.
In one embodiment, the relay node (RN) has its own cell identifier (ID) and is wirelessly connected to a serving evolved node B (eNB), referred to herein as the Donor eNB (DeNB), via the Un interface. In order to support RNs in a network, various network architectures may allow an S1, X2 and Un interface to be terminated at the RN.
Such architectures generally presuppose a stationary RN wirelessly connected with the DeNB. However, in certain cases the RN may be mobile. For example, on a train, one or more RNs may be deployed to allow mobile devices to connect to the RN. However, the RN is itself is moving with reference to the DeNB(s).